Thursday 26 December 2013

Favourite Releases of 2013

Though, in some sense, unrelated to this radio show, I thought I would share this here anyways. This is a list of music releases I really enjoyed from 2013, in no particular order. They are to some extent my personal 'favourites' from the year, as of late December. I've marked off the ones that I personally feel to be more accessible or 'listenable' with (*). There are 34 selections in the main list in total.



'fire moss' by fire moss 

'no answer : lower floors' by wolf eyes
(*) 'cerulean salt' by waxahatchee




OTHER RELEASES - I definitely enjoyed these as well:
'the man who died in his boat' by grouper
'anything in return' by toro y moi
'the 20/20 experience' by justin timberlake
'nothing was the same' by drake
'days are gone' by haim
'night time, my time' by sky ferreira
'yeezus' by kanye west
'modern vampires of the city' by vampire weekend
'pure heroine' by lorde 
'virgins' by tim hecker
'lines' by julian lynch

My end-of-year list from last year (and other lists going back to 2009) can be viewed here.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Episode 0 // The Hexateuch

This is the demo I made when applying to get this radio show on air. This is the first time I'm doing anything like this and I'm actually really excited for this to happen in the coming semester, so I hope you enjoy. I put the track timings down so you can skip parts you're not into. For example, at 36:22 into the show there is a harsh noise track and I know a lot of people are not that into that sort of stuff, so skip away! (Or take it on if you're feeling adventurous.) Thanks for checking this out.

By the way, this demo show is loosely based around the theme of the Hexateuch (Torah + Book of Joshua), which are the first six books of the Hebrew bible. The image below is from an Old English Hexateuch from Canterbury, England, dated to the first half of the 11th century. It is an image of Adam naming the animals. The choice of theme has a lot to do with me being busy at the time and choosing a theme I was already somewhat familiar with because of my faith background. But I want to assure everyone that I will definitely be exploring themes outside of Judeo-Christian tradition, such as those meandering through the beautiful Vedas and Upanishads, the Analects, the Tao Te Ching, Sufi writings, the I Ching, a variety of indigenous texts and religions and a whole lot of other spiritual repositories. So not to worry! They are ~coming~ (image source: The British Library Board).











  episode download available: here

00:00-00:19 - demo introduction
00:20-02:32 - Hopi (People) - 'Hopi Coming Out Song'
02:33-05:49 - talking: about Hopi people and Genesis trees [1],[2]
05:50-09:57 - Actress - 'Tree of Knowledge'
09:58-16:28 - Steve Reich Ensemble - 'Act 3. Who Is Abraham?'
16:29-19:48 - talking: about Hebrew patriarchs
19:49-23:55 - Chelsea Wolfe - 'Moses'
23:56-24:09 - psa: David Suzuki
24:10-24:51 - psa: OPIRG
24:52-29:28 - Dave Brubeck - 'Forty Days'
29:29-31:40 - talking: about numeric themes [3]
31:41-36:21 - Woven Hand - 'Dirty Blue'
36:22-44:37 - Wold - 'Free Goat of Leviticus'
44:38-47:25 - talking: about noise and gematria
47:26-50:29 - Steven Lugerner - 'These Are The Words'
50:30-53:37 - King's Messengers - 'Jericho Road'
53:38-57:09 - talking: about promised land typology
57:10-1:00:39 - Charlie Louvin - 'I Am Bound for the Promised Land'

"[T]he Hexateuch itself may, and indeed must, be understood as representative of a type of literature of which we may expect to be able to recognize the early stages. the circumstances of composition, and the subsequent development until it reached the greatly extended form in which it now lies before us." - Gerahard von Rad (The Form-Critical Problem of the Hexateuch).


Further Info (if you're interested):
Show Corrections
1.) I pronounced 'leitourgia' incorrectly throughout the entire show, lol, and a lot of other things as well, like the 'Levant'.
1.) At 18:39, I said Moses liberated the people from Israel, but I meant Egypt.
2.) I switched the order that Numbers and Leviticus actually appear within the Pentateuch, totally by accident and did not realize until later.
3.) I said Steve Lugerner, but it's actually Steven Lugerner. I also said Charles Louvin, but it's actually Charlie Louvin.
4.) Jeff Tweedy was not involved in Steps to Heaven but another release by Louvin from 2007 that was self-titled.

Friday 13 December 2013

Leitourgia Confirmed for Upcoming Winter Season on CFRC

Welcome to this homely little web space for 'Leitourgia', a new radio show that I am happy to announce has been confirmed for the 2014 winter semester line-up on CFRC community and campus radio! I am super excited, and personally think it'll be a heap of fun. It looks like the show will probably be on Mondays from 10AM to 11:30AM, or possibly on Sundays from 1-2PM. Timings are never a sure thing with shifting school schedules, but I will update you all when it's a little more set in stone. Thanks for checking in. I will have my demo broadcast up in a few days to provide some sort of idea what the show will be like!

In the mean time, I'll maybe try to breakdown how this web space is laid out. In a brief explanation of the imagery: the background is a little storefront I encountered in Cabbagetown, Toronto a few years ago. The header is actually an inverted photograph of flowers and incense, and was taken at the Cheng Hoon Teng temple, the oldest traditional Chinese temple in Malaysia -- recognized by UNESCO in 2003 for some really remarkable restoration that went on there. It is situated in historic Malacca and serves as a place of worship for Taoist, Confucianist, and Buddhist communities. Locals refer to the temple as Kebun Datok (God's Garden). You can get more information here, and this is the full photograph:



The About page has my general vision for the show and an explanation of the show's name. I haven't filled out the Resources and Campus Links pages, but those will be filled in over the winter break with links to people and resources that have inspired me spiritually, as well as more information about the spiritual resources on campus. I'll be posting past episodes and playlists here as well, which will be linked on the Episodes page. And feel free to check out the Facebook page if you'd like to keep updated. So anyways, that's what's in store! Thanks for stopping by.